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LSOF: Rise and Shine

Sometimes I wake before the sunrise, and I’ll drive 35 minutes to the beach just to watch the light first pierce the surface of the horizon. I love to stand there and witness a new day, fresh with new mercies. It is interesting that the sun has a “specific,” time to rise, and its as if the Lord makes it known how rest is important because the length of the night. Everything has its timing, and a purpose tied to a promise.

In Genesis 15, Abraham had a conversation one night with the Lord, He said to Abraham, “Look up to the heavens and count the stars—If indeed you can count them, so shall your offspring be.” This was a promise that the Lord made to Abraham. Further in Genesis 22, we can read that the Lord tests Abraham’s obedience by having him sacrifice his son Isaac. The Lord stops him and says these words, “ I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the sea shore…”

It is so interesting to me how God speaks first in Genesis 15 to establish the covenant promise but to not actually confirm it until He saw the obedience of Abraham, “ Because you have done THIS.”

God will not give us what He is not ready to reveal.

I remember attending a conference a few years ago and there was this one speaker that was a football coach and he shared a story about a player that had tried out over and over, but in the end never got to play. The player tried the first year and did not make it, tried the second year and did not make it but did much better than the first time, but instead of preparing again for the next time he became discouraged and gave up. The coach contacted him to try out the next year because he had seen the determination and wanted to personally offer him a chance to try out and he lost the chance because he had lost not only the determination to play the game, but he lost the will. He saw not making the team as losing instead of an opportunity to continue to prepare until there came a time he was ready to play and make the team.

I love Ecclesiastes 3:11, because it simply states, “ He makes everything beautiful in its time.”

I think we often can look at the Lord as if He somehow wants to jip us out of the desires of our hearts, but Jeremiah 29:11 states, “ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

I found something interesting while studying out the word, “ready,” and its interesting because in Hebrew text according to Strong’s H3559, it also means, “ to prepare,” and what is further interesting is when I looked at one of the scriptures 1 Chronicles 28:2 it states, “ And rose to his feet.” So the same word for ready and prepare also could be suggested could mean to “rise.” Looking further in that scripture it also states, “ I had it on my heart to build a house for a place of rest.” So in essence it might just be refering to the building as “prepare,” but even in building something is developing and rising is about something starting from one level and continuing onto the next level. So maybe we can suggest that prepare is to “rise up,” and to be ready is to “walk it out,” or “let it shine.”

I am in a place of preparation, but there are also areas I am aware the Lord has revealed I am ready to walk in. I think it is in preparation that most of the revelation happens to us.

When we try a shoe on at the store we often believe right then and there that they are “perfect,” for us, but then after buying them and wearing them the first day, most of the time we develop blisters because we have to, “ break them in.”

It is the same as when we step into areas we are now allowed to walk in. We realize the shoes are very uncomfortable. We realize that what we have always seen the position to look like from a far is a lot more than we may have thought.

And just like “breaking in,” shoes by dealing with blisters, we realize there are going to be times when situations happen when holding our position and standing for truth can break our heart. But we continue to walk anyway, because the journey is about growing into who we are called in every sense.

“ Being confident in this, He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

We must allow ourselves to continue to grow, continue to develop, and continue to be teachable. If we stop in the middle it will be much harder to get going again. And we must believe in God’s plan, and have confidence in it. He does not hide things from us, He just reveals them when they are ready.

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One thought on “LSOF: Rise and Shine”

I used to do that, too. Only the beach is more like 45 minutes from where we live. My favorite thing was starting when it was pitch black and waiting for the first little ray of sunshine to show up and hit the water. And then watching it unfold was so beautiful and amazing.

Little Steps Of Faith by Angela Sarich

My journey with the Lord

My heartbeat is to follow His lead…

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them."
(Isaiah 42:16)

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